Front yard photos

On my morning walk with Meg the dog yesterday and spied a bumblebee visiting some of the fireweed along the driveway. When I looked closer I found all his buddies - which resulted in spending a good chunk of time spent trying to get one in focus and in flight, none of which I was entirely happy with. I think I'd have to get out there in brighter light and use a faster shutter. This one came out nicely though, despite the lack of flying insects. I cropped this a bit in Picasa, nothing else, shot with the 70-300mm.

And one from over Spring break in March....

An adult female sharpshinned hawk that was very successful at hunting my (very dumb and slow) roller pigeons that I had let out for the first couple times this year. This was taken with the D200, she hung around and wasn't too scared of me so I got some very nice shots. My limitations on shutter speed because of the grainy ISO with that camera kept me from getting very much for action shots, but not for lack of trying. I think I stalked around after that bird for at least 2 hours, occasionally chasing her off yet another pigeon and returning it to the safety of the loft. She hung around for several days so I couldn't let the pigeons out again until a mink or weasel got into the the coop and killed them all. Nothing much to draw the hawks in around here anymore.

Too long..

Its been a very long time since I've posted here, 3 years - or maybe 4. Anyways - was terribly busy with work and a series of falconry hawks, not to mention getting married. No more hawks - and not returning to teaching this year as we are expecting a child - and wanting to get back into taking photos, so trying to get out more again. I bought a new-to-me Nikon D300s camera body at Kerrisdale Cameras a few weeks ago while down visiting family and am trying to get inspired. I am hoping that putting them up here will keep me at least taking and processing the photos. I might post a few of my more intriguing shots from the interim years as I get caught up. Two shots I got this morning...

We have had another bad grasshopper year (well I guess its good for the grasshoppers), the second in three, and they tend to scatter like a fountain away from your feet as you walk. They also hang out on the stalks early in the morning - I think they are trying to warm up in the rising sun. I liked the sharpness of the details on this hopper somewhat framed by the head of grass in the background. Straight from the camera with the 70-300mm.

This one was unexpectedly chosen - I was trying for the details on the stamens around the outside without blowing out the yellow of the petals. I tried all different angles to add some interest - flowers are not normally my forte - and tried different lenses and small apertures to get more of it in focus. In the end it was one of the first ones I had taken, with a larger aperture, that made the cut. On the full size version the texture of the green sepals below the petals stands out along with the one row of stamen closest to the camera and some of the shadows on the petals are still visible. I liked the pop of yellow against the kind of drab colours of the house in the background. Again, straight from the camera with the 70-300mm.

Insect Macros

From Photo of the day 2012

Found this guy on Wednesday night hiding in a wild rose flower. I got a few shallow photos that I wasn't happy with before he got spooked and hid behind the flower out of reach of my lens. I went back on Thursday and got these ones - some of the only flash photography I've done that I've been happy with. I used my macro mix and the in-camera flash as a fill flash as it was cloudy. The spider is quite small, perhaps a centimeter front to back, but this lens has done some cool things. I've never got light in a spider's eyes before... viewed full size its a bit creepy actually. I tweaked the shadows and highlights a bit to make him pop a bit more and to eliminate some hazy background plants on the right. Quite pleased here!

From Photo of the day 2012

Same spider, but it tells a bit more of a story. He didn't ever pounce on any of the several beetles in the flower, I think he was posing like this to try and intimidate me, but it certainly looks like he might in this photo. View the larger size ones by clicking the photo, you might be able to make out his eyes a bit better. Apparently crab spiders have a different eye orientation from jumping spiders (six clustered forward and two on the side) this guy has six in a row and two facing backwards over the top of his head - weird!

From Photo of the day 2012

I took this mostly to help me draw it at a later date but thought it would fit in here as well. Taken at the start of April when cleaning up my house. One of many ants in my house, this one dead.

From Photo of the day 2012

Inspired by the above ant photo, I took this one on the same day for similar reasons. A dead fly that had been in my truck for a while. For lighting sake I put it in the same place as the ant. I used a bit of fill flash from an external, hotshoe mounted flash. The hairs are kind of creepy when viewed full size - no wonder so many movies make horrifying monsters/aliens look similar to very large insects...

Odds and Ends

From Photo of the day 2012

A collection of random photos from the few I have taken over the past six months. I always say I will take lots of photos with my students when we start up Photography class in January and it never seems to last very long. Perhaps because I am surrounded by some great photos from them, perhaps because processing them takes time and I already spend lots of time in front of screen at work. Anyways. This first one I took in February when we got some cold weather and I got ice feathers on the inside of my single pane windows. Hard to find the right light to get these well, but made use of my macro stuff and this one came out pretty good. A little unseasonable, but not bad. Sharpened a bit in Picasa, nothing else.

From Photo of the day 2012

This one was found by one of my students at school, we had it as a mystery and I thought it cool enough to try grab a decent shot. Its made out of snow - we found out later it was from the bottom of one of my student's shoes. For those that are intensely curious, I think the letter that "Many good things begin with" was A. I straightened this and cropped in Picasa.

From Photo of the day 2012

Taken a week or so ago - much more seasonable. A snazzy red columbine out in the cow pasture. I was using my wide-angle zoom lens, and was pretty well lying on the ground to isolate it out against the sky. I used aperture of f 8 to make sure it was all in focus and sharp. I liked how the dandelion seeds had gotten stuck on various parts of the flower. Cropped in Picasa, nothing else.

Panoramas

From Photo of the day 2012

Finally purchased the ArcSoft Panorama Maker Pro software that I liked so much - thanks parents! I spent Saturday stitching these two lovlies from September when I got to walk the dog during beautiful sunrises. This first was taken in the field across the street, the second was taken along my usual walk looking back towards my house. Oh I am looking forward to similars in a couple months! (Click the photos to see larger images on my Picasa site...)

From Photo of the day 2012

Chickadees

From Photo of the day 2012

So I stayed home sick from work on Thursday - after feeding the pigeons and hauling wood I spied some nice light and pack of chickadees outside my front door and figured I need to take more opportunities. I snapped a bunch - most didn't come out because of distractions or the fact that chickadees just move very fast and don't come back to the same branch very quickly. I kept a few more than this, but these are the best quality, despite the light not being spectacular at that moment. This first one is cropped and I played with the highlights a bit. Used my 70-300 mm lens for all three.

From Photo of the day 2012

Again cropped, but otherwise straight. Cute little guys

From Photo of the day 2012

And this one - while having a huge distracting branch in the way - makes it in because of his expression, the nice light, the fact that its straight from the camera, and... on the full size version - you can see the shadow of the shop and me in his eye. A wild chickadee's eye! Crazy! Stupid branch. Oh well - you can't have everything go your way.

Winter macros

From Photo of the day 2012

Long time, no photo-ing. I have been taking some of school events but it has been rather dark when I've been home for the last couple months. Got inspired by some good shots from this lady in Russia and from some in various magazines to get going again. New Year's resolution? I don't know. Anyway, there is more light now, and I am teaching photography again at school this coming week. This one I found on the way back from my morning walk with the dog. It was warm and melty, and has since refrozen. These little bits of stubble were sticking up through the ice with frost on them and the light worked. I think this is with my macro combo, and just tweaked the highlights to make the snow properly white.

From Photo of the day 2012

Also taken on the return trip this morning with the macro combo. Not sure why this bit of dead plant caught my eye, but I managed to get an angle I found interesting - and the right aperture to get most of it in focus. It has a symmetry of sorts, I suppose. Only increased the highlights a bit here.

From Photo of the day 2012

And this is one I took in the beginning of last November and never got around to posting - some hoar frost on the barbed wire fence in the back field. I was struggling with the available light, so unfortunately the depth of field is a little shallower than I would have liked. I sharpened this one a touch, but that's it. I figured it was a neat enough shot to include as an extra here.

Sunrises and dust prints

From Photo of the day 2012

At the start of the school year I was taking photos during the morning dog walk - back when I was getting up with the sun instead of before the sun. I got a series of cool sunrise shots over the course of a few days. I'm still waffling over purchasing some panorama software, so some of the cooler ones will have to wait.

From Photo of the day 2012

Also got this one of tracks in the clay dust road to the back of the property (before that became mud with the fall rains). A couple of small bird hops and what I assume is a mouse with the tail dragging a line between the little foot prints.

Doorway critters

From Photo of the day 2012

So I stayed out later than I should with friends, and then on coming home found my entryway invaded by large moths. I'd seen them the night before and took some useless photos of them, but had another go yesterday evening. They are about two inches long, and most of them were dark brown with pink secondary wings (they keep these covered when settled), but then I spied a couple of white ones and thought of the old pepper-moth example for natural selection. Anyways, it was dim so I had to haul out the tripod. Good thing they weren't moving at all - this shot needed an 8 second exposure so I could use a smaller aperture (increase the depth of field) and keep my ISO lower (minimize grain). Beyond about 500 ISO this camera seems to need some decent light or things end up horribly noisy. I tweaked the colour temperature a bit towards blues in Picasa and used my macro combo and tripod with the incandescent white balance setting.

From Photo of the day 2012

These sapsuckers had a nest somewhere near my house. This adult was around all summer and then started bringing its babies by in July. The willow tree he is on is just outside my front door and I was on my way out when I spied one of the babies and figured I should grab some shots. This guy grabed a bug and took it to a hole (I don't think it was the nest) and proceeded to eat it there. I managed to get one shot with it in his beak and the rest came out pretty good. Cropped, increased shadows and sharpened in Picasa. I used my 70-300mm long lens to shoot it.

Dew

From Photo of the day 2012

So I went out Sunday morning in the fog/dew and got a bunch of shots. This one is by far my favourite, though it takes a larger image to truly appreciate its sharpness. I could likely blow this up to at least 11X17 with no issues. Anyways, the butterfly must have been a bit cold and damp as he wasn't going anywhere and I got to take a number of shots. This was with my macro combo, only a touch of shadows and cropping in Picasa.

From Photo of the day 2012

The dew on part of a spider's web strung between the electric fence wires. I liked how you could see the world upside down in the bigger drop. It was an interesting challenge as it was blowing in the breeze and kept moving out of the focal plane. I used some continuous bursts to get the shot and kept the few that were in focus. I tweaked shadows and sharpening in Picasa here.

From Photo of the day 2012

Some of the last fireweed of the season - the light was a bit too warm from the morning so I changed my white balance to "incandescent" to compensate - a good choice because such light is too yellow and now the camera compensated for the yellowish morning light. I think I did a touch of shadows and minor sharpening here.

From Photo of the day 2012

And lastly, a leaf on the trail I walk with the dog in the morning. I loved how it was coated in little drops and then the big one magnified everything underneath it. Same deal as the others I think, a bit of shadows and sharpening.

Fair and Frost

From Photo of the day 2012

I took some photos at the fall fair last weekend - mostly of the draft horse events because I always find such big horses fascinating. At the end of the teams with carts they had the team of four horses - this was the set of grey Percherons - turns out I've been driving past (and admiring) the leading two mares on my way to work for the last year. At this point I think they were trotting. I sat on the ground and angled my wide angle lens up through the bottom bars of the gate to make them look as big as they seemed in real life. I might have increased shadows a bit in picasa but otherwise straight from the camera.

From Photo of the day 2012

This one I shot on my early morning dog walk yesterday - I guess its officially fall. We had our first frost out on the field. I took my macro combo and spent some time getting the right angle, focus, and aperture was the hardest. It wasn't very bright out yet - long morning shadows, so not a lot of available light. I had a fairly wide aperture so the depth of field isn't what I would have liked. If I'd been thinking I would have poked the ISO up to 400 and then shot with a smaller aperture. Oh well - still thinking like a film photographer with no shot to shot ISO (ASA) control. Still it's different and I quite like how it came out.

Lightening

From Photo of the day 2012

So I finally fetched my tripod from school and had a go at the lightning that has been happening over the past few days. I missed out on the most intense storm I have seen on Saturday night because I had no tripod. I managed not too badly last night with a more spread out storm. This first shot was taken on my way home along the side of the highway - you can just make out the blur of car lights and the red glow was from the streetlights at the intersection. I shot these with either a 15 or 30 second shutter, hoping some lightning would happen in that spot during that time. Most of these are quite heavily cropped, though the first was shot with my wide angle lens with less cropping (the rest were with my 50mm lens at f 2.8). Hard to see in these sizes but there is a fair bit of ISO grain, one of the few times I got the D300 instead of the 200... ah well. Cool all the same - new type of photos for me!

From Photo of the day 2012

From Photo of the day 2012

From Photo of the day 2012

Damselfly

From Photo of the day 2012

Took me close to an hour to get this shot - not because I had an active subject! I rescued this damselfly from near drowning in my kiddie pool and set him up on the wall of my house to dry, then got to work with my macro converter-lens setup. It works great, it just has a really shallow depth of field and at that size any slight sway will make parts in focus or out of focus. I couldn't use a larger aperture to help because I didn't have enough light. A tripod is the obvious solution but I have left mine in my office. I improvised with a 12 ft long 1X4 piece of lumber propped up against the roof of entry way and resting on the ground. I couldn't quite lean on it, but I could easily steady my hand and camera for the shot. Very sharp when you look at it close. I think its going to make it to the local fair. Now just to decide if I want to print it 5X7 or 8X10. Kind of depends if I really want to stick it on my wall. 

Enjoy!

Rufous

 

 This little guy, a rufous hummingbird, has been hogging my feeder since I put it up on Wednesday. He chases off all the other one and has his set perches from which he maintains his guard. Unfortunately, he also chased off the male calliope hummer I saw the other morning - a first for me. They are a bit smaller then the rufous with purple streaks on their throat. Anyways, finally got around to taking some shots of him on some of his guard posts, they look good this size, ok at full. I will likely try again in better light. 

Instruments

 

 Spent the day out in Shelley BC listening to my favourite local band, Rosewood's Diary and having awesome potluck put on by the very hospitable CBC radio host from Prince George. Took some good photos of the band, but got these as well and figured they wouldn't get any screen time anywhere else.

The first is of one of the band member's violin, taken inside with no flash - a surprise for my old D200 as it didn't come out too grainy at ISO 500. Didn't like it on the back of the cam but like how it looks here. That old manual fixed 50mm lens is actually a lot of fun. I think I may have had the macro-converter on here as I was quite close, but don't recall. Love the very shallow depth of field, managed to get the F-hole and bridge sharp.

This one is of a locally made guitar, also brought out by a stand-in band member. He made it himself! Very nice sounding as well as looking. The colours on this came out very calm, I like how it was angled in the stand. Awesome band, awesome food, and fabulous weather made my afternoon.

More Macro Fun

Continued fun with my "new" macro combo - macro converter + a 50mm lens

From Photo of the day 2012

 A local cat outside the school during photography class. He was sunning himself and was particularly amenible. One of the most photographed cats in town I imagine, the kids use him for assignments.

From Photo of the day 2012

Macro shot of some ice in the parking lot of the school after it had thawed and re-frozen with neat crystals in it.

From Photo of the day 2012

A leaf in the snow I found yesterday while supervising kids. I like the curl and the way the light hit it.

From Photo of the day 2012

Claws of the same cat as top, he was getting playful on the playground. I managed to get a close up with the full macro on it. Great textures of both the paw and the wood. Cool!

Macro fun

From Photo of the day 2012

 So I finally got my macro converter hooked up with the old Nikon series E 50mm 1.8 lens. I took it to school and took some photos while the photography class was out getting photos for their assignment. Had a blast with some really basic subjects. Above, a pine branch in the school courtyard with some snow on it (very nice) and the end of a small icicle below. I had a student with a dark sweater stand behind it so that I would get the nice contrast. I like this combo!

From Photo of the day 2012

From Photo of the day 2012

And one more of the little common redpoll on my window feeder because he's cute. This one was just with the 50mm lens, no macro.

From Photo of the day 2012 A little Common Redpoll chowing down on my window mounted bird feeder.

From Photo of the day 2012 Black-capped Chickadee on the same feeder, not cropped.

Suddenly remembered that the D200 I bought nearly 2 years ago can actually make use of my old lens that came with my old Nikon EM film camera. I had been talking to a friend in Vanderhoof who recently got a new fixed 2.8 50mm-ish lens. I decided I'd double check this old lens and see what it had going for it - f1.8 fixed 50mm! Not bad! Fairly useless for wildlife unless they come to your window, but this revelation also means that my macro-converter I had for the old film camera will also work on my D200. Unfortunately I left it at work, so I dont have any macro shots to show off today. Loving how sharp it is though - the top photo is heavily cropped, but you'd never guess. I love how Nikon never changed its lens mount through the years.

Green

Ok, old pictures but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I doubt it will be daily again soon, if ever.

From Photo of the day 2012  Anyways - found this toad outside my house in June when I came home from work. Likely the last day of school because I finally brought the camera home and so had it to take pictures with. I am considering either of these shots as an entry in the fall fair under the photography category "green". Not sure which, currently leaning to the top one because I think it is a better photo technically and if someone else is judging it.

From Photo of the day 2012 Find the toad! Its actually not as hard as I thought it would be compared to the back of the camera version.

Scenery and Wildlife

From Photo of the day 2012

My front yard on Monday morning. We got some snow over the weekend and I liked how all the branches on the deciduous trees were highlighted against the black of the conifers. On a somewhat related note, I also like that its now LIGHT when I leave my house in the morning at about 7:30 am and STILL light when I get home in the afternoon, which enables me to actually take pics for this blog. This one is straight from the cam with my wide angle lens, unfortunately don't recall the exact settings.

From Photo of the day 2012

This one I took on Friday (I think - I know its late being posted) when I hoofed out to the round bale stack in my back field after school. I liked the light on the hay and and the pretty evening sky. Oddly, this is taken with my long lens at minimal focal length (70mm) because I wasn't packing my whole kit and had only brought that lens. I had to stand way back. I wasn't sure this was actually the shot I wanted when I took it, tried a bunch more with a barn in the background, and then ended up using this one anyways. The moose have been chewing on the one in the bottom corner, a number of times last week I had to go walk the dog in the other field because they were still there and I didn't her (or me) to get trompled by and angry/startled moose.

From Photo of the day 2012

Taken on the way back from the hoof out to the round bales - I liked the lighting and the contrast of the plant (I always called them ant flowers as a kid, no idea what they are actually called) with the shadowy background. The stems came out nice and sharp too. Another successful straight from the camera shot.

From Photo of the day 2012

This one is a short-eared owl I spotted on the way home from school yesterday. I went out way past him as I was driving fairly quick then pulled a u-turn and came back on the other side of the road. He put up with a bunch of shots before this one (him taking off) but I botched most of them by underexposure. This one was salvageable and he was in an interesting stance. I have cropped this, increased highlights and fill light and slightly sharpened in Picasa 3.

From Photo of the day 2012

And the rouge pack of deer on the way home from work last week. They were considering crossing the road, one had even hopped the fence, but when I slowed down they turned tail. Got to love being in northern BC where you can stop in the middle of the road for 5 minutes and take pictures with the window rolled down and not get in anyones way. Of course I had my wide angle lens on and by the time I got the long one on they were a considerable distance away so I got a trail of butts. I cropped it to remove most of a distracting blurry bit of grass or fence in the bottom left. I suppose the deer create a bit of a leading line, the shot is mostly included because I thought the deer were cool (hence its included at the bottom).

Obviously my students are beating me at keeping up with the whole 3 shots posted a week thing. Hope to do better next week!